Skinny Dipping
by RandomGeek18
Summary: This was her last night of freedom before real life set in and god be damned if Rey wasn't going to enjoy it by doing something a little bit crazy. MODERN AU. REYLO. TOTAL FLUFF.
1. Skinny Dipping

This was her last night of freedom before real life set in and god be damned if Rey wasn't going to enjoy it by doing something a little bit crazy. The full moon casts a silvery glow on her surroundings as she makes her way tentatively down the sidewalk towards the Jakku public pool. It's about eleven thirty at night and she effortlessly climbs the railing, hopping down onto the soft grass encompassing the large pool. She slips off her shirt, flinging it onto the nearest chair. Her shorts soon follow. She tiptoes up to the edge of the pool, the water staring back at her as she contemplates forgoing her underwear or not.

 _What the hell!_ She thinks and throws her bra and panties atop her other clothes. She dives into the water, relishing the coolness of the water as it rushes over her body. She backstrokes, staring up at the vastness of the sky above her and the billions of twinkling stars. She takes a deep breath, smiling to herself, as she thinks about the momentous change about to take place in her life. She feels like she's soaring impossibly high, swimming amongst the stars. If a girl from the back allies of life can change her destiny like she did, well, anything seems possible to her. Her thoughts are cut short when she bumps into to something but assumes it's the pools edge until it starts moving.

"AAUUGHHH!" she screams when she turns to see it is a person, a male person, a naked male person.

"What the fuck!?" he yells at the same time, both of them swimming away from each other.

Rey scrambles up out of the pool and hurriedly dresses, not caring if anything is inside out or backwards.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone would be out here. I didn't see anything, I swear!" she hears a voice call from the opposite side of the water. She has to admit, his deep, throaty voice has a certain attraction to it but she can't think about that right now. Or the solid muscles of his chest she ran into. Or the other parts of him she bumped into. She clambers over the railing and nearly breaks her neck as she tumbles oh so gracefully onto the cement sidewalk. She half runs, half hops while trying to get her shoes on. Once she does, she takes off at a sprint and doesn't stop until she makes it back to her house. She creeps in through the back door silently, and inches her way up the stairs, trying not to wake her Aunt Maz. Well, she's technically not Rey's aunt but she's about as close to family as the soon to be freshman in collage has. Rey thoroughly enjoys Maz's eccentric personality and attitude towards life but trying to explain to Maz why she is soaking wet and sneaking into the house at nearly midnight is not a very desirable idea right now. Rey is able to breathe a sigh of relief when she makes it to her room without incident. She starts to giggle at the absurdity of this whole night but soon stops when she realizes that she is not wearing the shirt she wore to the pool.

"Shit." she mutters under her breath.


	2. Tire Trouble

**A/N: I do apologize for the extensive amount of time that has passed since I've updated! But here you go...I hope you like.**

She takes off the stranger's shirt, holding it in her hands, wondering what on earth she's going to do about it. If she ran back now, she might just possibly be able to catch him at the pool, if he hadn't left yet. Of course, that would then cause tremendous amounts of awkwardness and she'd run the risk of Maz waking up or someone else seeing her perusing town at midnight. She flops onto her bed, stomach down, and grunts into the comforter. She thinks about her own shirt and decides very quickly that she can live without it. Hopefully the skinny dipping stranger doesn't mind missing his either. Maybe she can have Maz drop it off to the lost and found at the pool. The only problem being that Maz will question where she got the shirt and why it needs to go back to the pool.

"Ahhg." she moans as she rolls over onto her back. She lifts the shirt up above her and stares at it. Nothing terribly significant about it; just a simple black t-shirt. She notices the faint smell of a cologne on it and thinks it smells rather nice, actually. "Fuuuuck." she breathes out. Why things like this happen to her, she will forever wonder. She wads it up and tosses it across the room. It lands on her suitcase. She crawls up and under her comforter, content to sleep away the stupidity of the night.

Rey speeds down the long stretch of highway connecting Jakku and D'Quar with her music pumping, singing right along to it. Maz saw her off this morning with a few tears and many hugs. While she is thankful for Maz and all she's done for her, Rey is thrilled to finally be out on her own, forging her own path, her own destiny. She's excited about starting this new chapter in her life and curious to see what it holds in store for her. Her phone buzzes so she turns down her music before picking up. She rolls her eyes but smiles when she sees whose calling.

"Hello, Finn." She sing-songs into the phone.

"Dude, where are you? You're missing like all the fun." From the background noise and the slight slur in his voice, Rey assumes he's at a party. Whoever is throwing a party at eleven o'clock in the morning is definitely the kind of person Finn would know.

"I'm driving now. Probably about three hours out."

"Okay, well hurry up because Poe is throwing the best back to school party every." Rey does not who this Poe guy is but decides it better not to ask. "And there's this girl. Rey, I think she might be the one."

She chuckles to herself. Finn says that about pretty much any girl he finds attractive. He's like a little puppy, chasing everything that moves and becoming enthralled by it until the next shinny thing comes along. "Yeah, and what's her name?"

"Well…everyone calls her Plasma so I don't really know her real name." he replies, despondently.

"Mhmm." Her smile widens at his huff of annoyance.

"Just get your scrawny ass here quickly." He commands.

"Yes, sir, Finn, sir." She says in a mocking tone.

"Jerk." He bits off, with absolutely no anger in his voice to back him up. He and Rey are too close for him to get offended so easily.

"Bitch." She retorts. "I'll be there as soon as I can, Finn. Don't cause too much trouble without me."

"You got it boss." He says before hanging up. Rey smiles to herself as she sets her phone down and turns up her music again. She and Finn met when Rey started high school. While Finn was a year ahead of her, Rey was usually the more mature of the two. He was pretty much her only friend throughout high-school. Rey was quiet, guarded, and tended to enjoy her own company more than going out with groups of people. Finn, on the other hand, loved to go out and have insane amounts of crazy fun and Rey loved him for it. He helped her come out of herself, to not take herself so seriously. She's changed in the four years since meeting Finn and is grateful to him for that change. The girl who accidentally knocked him in the face with her locker door is not the girl who's headed towards her dream collage, her dream career. That girl would not have done half the things she's done in the past year alone. Like skinny dipping in the public pool. And now Rey's face heats up with the memory of last night. She will never get over the embarrassment that it caused her and can only be thankful that no one was there to see it. Well except the dude but he doesn't matter. Not like they know each other. All in all, it could have been a lot worse. She hears a loud bang before her car starts shaking.

"Shit!" she curses, letting the car slow down before turning off to the side of the road. She gets out and checks out the blown tire. She gives it a kick but is thankful that it's not as bad as it could have been. She moves to her trunk and pushes aside her things so she can grab the spare and jack. As she fits the jack under the car, a vehicle pulls up behind her. It's a sleek, black car and kind of reminds her of the Batmobile. The man that steps out is just as dark and sleek as his car. His black hair falls just above his shoulders and she notices just how tall he is. He's wearing a black t-shirt, black jeans, and Converse. She smiles to herself at his choice of footwear and stands to meet him.

"Car trouble?" his voice is deep and throaty. It's a voice she finds familiar but shakes the feeling off. She'd certainly remember meeting him.

"Nothing I can't handle, thanks." she shrugs. While he's handsome as hell, the last thing she needs is some creeper trying to take advantage of her.

"Oh, I don't doubt it. Just checking to make sure everything was alright." he smiles at her and her stomach flips, in a good way.

"Yeah, not my first flat. Learned early on how to fix one."

He moves closer to her to inspect the tire. He's now standing right next to her and she can see how well his shirt hugs his chest muscles.

"Well, are you sure you don't need any help?" Rey's eyes shoot up to meet his when he speaks, her face heating up with the realization that she was openly staring at him. "I mean, the quicker we get your tire fixed, the quicker we can get out of this heat." She nods, a light breeze picks up and plays with the stagnate summer air. With that breeze comes a smell she knows very well. Her eyes widen in surprise and embarrassment. "Makes me want to go for a swim. What do you think?" the smirk that envelopes his face would make Rey clench her thighs together if it wasn't for the utter horrification she's feeling.

"You...the pool...oh god..." she stutters, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Now, about this tire." he squats down, slides the jack underneath the car, and starts pumping it up, ignoring her embarrassment.

The sight of someone else fixing _her_ tire, shakes Rey back into reality. "Hey, no, I can do that." Rey moves closer to him and squats next to him, ready to take over.

"Really, it's no trouble." He responds, his gaze fixated on the car, like she's nothing more than an irritating fly.

"Seriously, I know how to fix a damn tire. Not every girl is completely helpless when it comes to cars." she says hotly. She finds it absolutely repulsive when guys just assume that because she's a girl, she doesn't know how to do anything with a car except press the brake and gas adequately.

"Whoa, chill." He chuckles. "I never said you couldn't. I'm just trying to be gentlemanly."

She coughs into her hand, "Right. Sorry. Just not used to letting people do things for me."

"Well, now is always a good time to start." He finally looks up at her and she gulps. "I could help you will a lot, if you wanted me to." his heart-fluttering smirk returns in full force.

"I...I think the tire is good for now." she practically mumbles.

"Got it." he returns his attention to the tire and begins taking it off.

"I'm Rey, by the way." she offers after a few moments of silence.

"It is very nice to meet you, Rey by the way. I'm Ben, Ben Solo." he replies.

"Mmmm." she hums, leaning on her elbow watching him work and enjoying the view, when her head shoots up. "Wait, Solo like Professor Han Solo, the ex-smuggler, war hero?"

Ben huffs, "Yeah, he's kind of my dad."

"Holy shit!" she squeals. "Dude, I like adore you dad. He's like half the reason I'm going to D'Quar University."

"Talk about a mood killer." Ben mumbles under his breath.

"Like, you have no idea how much I've been inspired by him. He ran the Kessel run in fourteen parsecs!"

"Twelve." he corrects her, absentmindedly.

"Hmm?"

"He ran it in twelve parsecs." he waves a bolt at her.

"Oh, well, that's even better, right? He's like my hero."

"There, done." he stands, handing her the jack. "Sorry for fixing your tire."

She laughs, "Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Well, I guess I'll see you around, Rey." he stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah?"

"Well, yeah. I mean if you are going to D'Quar, then I'm sure we'll bump into each other at some point or another. I go there myself."

"Oh, awesome." she senses his unease and is unsure about what's caused it. He starts backing up towards his car.

"Yeah, I suppose." he gives her a little, one-fingered salute before opening his car door.

"But, I mean, we don't have to wait for some point or another, right?" she opens her back door and rummages through her backpack quickly. She pulls out a bit of paper and a pencil, scribbling down her number. "Just in case, you know, if you ever wanna go for another swim sometime." Her cheeks flush.

He takes the paper from her, "I will definitely keep that in mind." And she turns and walks back to her car. As she opens the door, he calls to her, "Oh, and I want my shirt back!"


	3. Shirt Swap

**A/N: Again, sooooo sorry for the huge amount of time between updating...There will be one more chapter that will (hopefully) be on its way soon.**

* * *

It'd only been about week but Rey is already thoroughly enjoying her collage life. Her dorm mate is a cheeky, shorter girl that favors the color orange, named BB, and they get along just fine. Finn gave her an exciting tour of the campus that ended with his dorm room and the meeting of his new friend Poe. He was the one who threw the party Finn was at when he called Rey on her road trip over. Poe is one of those guys that doesn't really have to try to be liked by everyone. He has a fun, upbeat personality and Rey has to admit, the dude was hella cute with his floppy curls, contagious smile, and whirlpool eyes. They immediately hit it off and Rey was happy to have another friend to add to the now growing list. She was settling in nicely and she couldn't be happier. Well, if she was being honest, she probably could be a little bit happier. So far, she hasn't run into a mister Ben Solo and he hasn't bothered to use the information she gave him at their last meeting.

She's currently laying stomach down on her bed, pen in mouth, going over her work when her phone buzzes. She relishes the idea of a break so she sits up and pulls her phone off the desk next to her bed. It's an unknown number and her stomach does a little flip when she thinks it could be Ben calling.

"Hello?" she answers hesitantly.

" _This is an urgent message concerning your cred-"_ the recorded message begins.

She hangs up, disappointed, and hops off her bed. She was itching for a break so that's what she's going to give herself. She slides her phone into her pocket. She heads out the door, slipping on her Converse without giving herself a second glance in the mirror. There's a few students wandering the hallway and most only give her a friendly nod if they happen to notice her. Yes, she's settling in but isn't going out of her way to make sure everyone knows who she is. She's content with who she has in her life. As she makes her way towards the on-campus coffee shop, her phone buzzes with a text.

 _Goin out wth Poe and friends, wanna come?_ Rey smiles at the text from Finn. Always doing something with someone.

 _Nah, gotta study_ she types in, rounding a corner.

 _BORE_ his response comes in less than ten seconds later.

 _Have fun. Be safe._

 _Yes mom ;)_

 _Where's the emoji for the middle finger?_ She slips her phone into her pocket and realizes she didn't bring any money with her. "Shit." she turns on her heels and runs back to her room. She's too focused on getting to her dorm room without running into anyone that she actually does the opposite. As she swerves to miss someone's elbow, she bumps into someone else. "Oh, sorry." she looks up, with a smile that slowly fades. "Ben...hey."

A grin spreads across his face, "Well, hello there, Rey by the way."

"Hey." she repeats. Her phone dings but she ignores it.

"Whatcha up to?" he runs a hand through his hair and Rey wonders if it's a soft as it looks, what it would feel like running her fingers through it.

"Oh, um...I was just headed to Jabba's. Taking a break from studying." she looks over and see's they're standing a few feet from her door. So close, yet so far.

"Ahha." he thinks she looks cute kinda flustered and enjoys the way her tank top hugs her gently. "You do realize you were going in the _opposite_ direction, right?"He just then notices the small piercing in her left brow. It's small but for some reason he finds it rather attractive.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I forgot my wallet." she smiles nervously. "What are you doing?"

He leaves against her door, "I was actually coming to find you."

"Mmm..." she hums distracted by the way his lip quirks up. She shakes her head, refocusing, though the moment was not lost on him. "About damn time." Her demeanor suddenly changes as she crosses her arms, remembering how annoyed she's supposed to be at him.

He notices and straightens, "Well, I-"

"See, you do realize that when someone gives you their number, they kinda expect you to text or call or something." She raises an eyebrow at him.

His breath catches, "Yeah, no, of course." Her eyes drill into him harder and he feels like he's back in middle school sitting in the principal's office. He coughs. "I kinda lost it."

Her face breaks into a smirk, "You lost it?" her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well you wrote it on such a small ass piece of paper that it just got jumbled up with the rest of my school stuff and I couldn't find it."

"Oh, so know it's my fault?" she moves past him to her door.

"What?! No, of course not. It...I-" he trails off, not sure what to say.

She starts laughing as she swings the door open. "I'm just messing with you, Ben." she gestures him in. "But why were you looking for me?" She sits cross legged on her bed after pushing aside her books. He stands awkwardly, unsure of where to sit or if he should sit.

"Well, I figured you'd want this back." he tosses her a black bundle that unravels into the black tank top she wore the night of their first meeting. Her face heats up at the memory.

"Thanks." she says, getting up to put it away, just to have an excuse not to look at him.

"And I believe you have something of mine?" he crosses his arms behind his back, inching towards her.

"Oh, but it's so comfy and smells so nice." her hand clamps over her mouth as she realizes what she said.

He's a few feet from her, her back still toward him. "You think I smell nice?" he grabs her elbow, turning her to face him.

Her cheeks are a flame, "It sounded less creepy in my head, to be fair." she gives a nervous smile that fades as his face inches towards her, his gaze flicking from her lips to her eyes.

"Yours was a tight fit but it smelled nice to."

She laughs in his face, covering her mouth with her hands, and squats, the laugher uncontrollable. He joins her, sitting on the floor, laughing.

"You...put...put on...my shirt?" she giggles, trying to picture it.

"Well I couldn't very well run around Jakku topless, now could I?" he looks at her affronted.

"Ohmygod." she wheezes. "I would pay to see that."

"Okay." He stands and pulls off his shirt. That stops her laughter, her breath catching in her throat as she takes in his well defined abs and chest and biceps and holy crap she can't breathe. He gestures to her and she remembers why he took his shirt off in the first place. She tosses her tank top up at him and he catches it, slipping it on over his head. He straightens it and her giggles erupt again. His midriff is showing and the shirt looks like it's been painted on, how tight it is. He struts around like a model, but over-exaggerating every movement.

She waves her hands at him, "No, no. Oh god, no." her sides ache and her cheeks are sore from laughing so much. "Take it off."

He tries pulling it off but tares it in the process. "Shit. I'm sorry, Rey."

She just takes the torn fabric and throws it away, "It's okay. I said goodbye to it last week."

"I believe payment is due." he waggles his eyebrows at her as he puts his own shirt back on.

"Oh?" she walks back to her bed and sits on the edge. "And what did you want for payment?"

He paces, finger drumming his chin, looking contemplative, though he knows exactly what he's going to say. "I suppose you've got to put on my shirt now."

She smirks, "Seriously, that's lik-"

"Only my shirt." he thoroughly enjoys the looks on her face as she realizes his implications.

"Oh." she stands and walks towards the bathroom after picking up his shirt from a box.

"Hey, I gave you a show." he calls after her.

"Life's not fair, Benny boy." she answers, shutting the door.


	4. Anchors

She walks out of the bathroom, pulling down on the black shirt. She's not comfortable wearing such short things, especially without leggings or pants or something. She glances up at him, a blush creeping across her cheeks.

"Ta-da." She throws her arms out wide, which cause the shirt to ride up her thighs higher. She hurriedly drops them back down to her sides, regretting going through with this stupid idea. "Happy now?" she huffs.

He hasn't moved from his spot on her bed since she exited the bathroom, hasn't even said anything. She thought he would've had some quick remark. The light from the widow casts his face into the shadows so she can't see his expression. He rises in eerie silence and starts towards her. She moves back half a step, a bit worried. Has she done something wrong? He stops just inches from her, his frame towering over her, and leans his face down to her ear.

"Very." He whispers, his breathe tickling her skin, sending goosebumps rolling across her body. He then lifts his head a little before gently bringing his lips to hers. It's soft, sweet. It's a promise of more to come.

"Sorry." He leans back, blushing redder than a tomato. "I just…it was-"

She reaches up on her tip-toes and silences him with another kiss, this one harder and longer than the first. When they break apart, she rests a hand on his chest. "Don't be. It was nice."

His eyebrow pops up, "Yeah? Well there's more where that came from."

Her head hits his chest as she sighs, "Consider the moment ruined."

He chuckles, leading her back to the bed where they sit; his back against the wall and hers against the headboard, her legs laying across his. He rubs his thumb in a circular motion over her knee.

"Are you settling in okay?" he asks.

"Mhmm." she hums, crossing her ankles and smiling.

"Classes aren't too hard?" she can hear the smirk in his voice.

"No, not yet. Your dad isn't really how I thought he'd be; in real life I mean."

He tenses next to her, "Yeah?"

"I don't know." She shrugs. "He seems tougher, more intense. Like there's something going on behind the scenes but he puts on this front for the class so no one would dare ask him out of fear. I just remember watching some of his first lectures from years ago, when he first started as a professor and he had this sarcastic, fun personality that he used to make his theories come across better. It's kinda-" She looks up at him, stopping herself from finishing her sentence, "And I'm babbling on about something that's none of my business. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to imply any-"

He chuckles, in spite of his feelings, "It's okay."

"So what are you going for?" she says changing the subject, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear habitually.

"Business. More specifically, global leadership." he says curtly.

She raises an eyebrow but doesn't question it. "That's cool."

"Yeah, professor Snoke is very strict but is one of the best professors I've had."

She nods, trying to remember where she knows the name Snoke from but shakes her head. Probably from the University's website or something.

"And obviously, you're going for mechanical engineering."

She hums, smiling.

"What made you choose that?" he inquires.

She takes a deep breath and looks up at him. She's not really comfortable talking about her past, especially this part of it.

He sees her hesitation, "You don't have to tell me, you know, if it's too personal or something."

She smiles, "It's okay. It's just I don't really talk much about it."

"Okay." He pulls her hand into his. She enjoys the feeling.

"My dad was a mechanic but like not a dirty, covered in oil, working out of his garage kind. He actually worked for the army, fixing tanks and stuff." She chuckles, "I remember this one time when I was like five and he let me help him with one, though I didn't actually do much. He even let me sit on top of it while he drove it around the base. He's why. I have a bunch of his sketches of things he wanted to build, to invent, that he never got around to. I guess I just want to complete his legacy." She smiles up at him, surprised at her openness. She's not even told Finn this.

"Well, I'm sure he's extremely proud of you." He's happy for her, for her relationship with her father. He feels an ache of wanting, a pang of jealousy, but reminds himself that it's his father's fault they no longer have a relationship.

"Yeah, I'd like to think so." She looks down at their interlocked hands, the memories bitter-sweet as they replay in her mind. "He died not long after I helped him with that one tank. Just a few months actually." She tries to make it sound light but it comes out choked.

He stops rubbing her knee, "Rey, I'm so sorry." He wraps an arm around her pulling her onto his lap, trying to comfort her as tears well in her eyes. "But your mom-"

She shakes her head, "The base we were living on was attacked by a band of local terrorists. They were both killed that night."

"Shit." He breathes. "God, I'm really sorry."

"It's…it's okay." She says, even though it's not. She's not. He kisses the top of her head as she weeping into his chest. She curls up into a ball as tears soak into Ben's shirt. He feels wetness accumulating in his own eyes. This beautiful, broken girl that tumbled into his life has brought so much more than just a bit of fun. His chest aches for her and for her loss. It makes him think about his own father and how lucky he is to still have one. His breath catches in his throat, thinking about the idea of his dad dying. There are so many things he regrets saying and so many things he needs to say. He tightens his hold on Rey, anchoring her as much as himself.


	5. Moving On

And that's how BB finds them, curled up on Rey's bed, crying. She comes bounding in the door, excited and bubbling about something before she sees them.

"Oh, Rey. Sorry...is everything okay?" she rocks on her heels, unsure about what to do.

Rey gets to her feet, wiping a few stray tears away, suddenly aware of her lack of clothing. She pulls on a pair of shorts quickly. "Sorry, B. Everything's good. This is Ben. Ben, BB." They shake hands.

"I was just grabbing this." the bouncy, orange clad girl picks something randomly off her dresser and starts to leave. "I'll see you later. It was nice to meet you, Ben."

"You too." he calls after her as she swings the door shut.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm still getting used to having a roommate."

He pulls her into his chest, "It's okay. She seems nice. You got lucky."

"Yeah, she's really sweet. She's the youngest of eight sibling. Could you imagine having seven brothers and sisters?"

"All I can do is imagine." he sighs, "I'm an only child."

"Yeah, same." she lays her head against his chest again. The gentle beat of his heart calms her, lulls her into a state of contentment.

"Hey, how about that coffee now?" he quietly asks.

"Are you asking me on a date right _now_?" she quirks her eyebrows up at him.

"Well that depends on your answer." his lips soften into a faint smile.

She laughs gently, "Yeah, I could go for some coffee." she pulls away from him, slipping on her shoes again. She grabs his hand, entwining their fingers, and leads him out into the hall and down the corridor. They make it interruption free to Jabba's where Ben insists upon paying. They take their drinks (Ben getting a large caramel latte with whip cream and Rey getting a regular black coffee) outside and sit on the grassy lawn facing the now setting sun. Over the course of the next two hours they talk. About...well about pretty much everything under the sun and more. They find a solace in one another that they haven't with anyone else. Ben is determined, because of Rey, to reconcile with his dad. They don't know what the future holds for them but they know that they are no longer hindered by their past.

 **A/N: The end! I know it's short but it didn't feel right writing anything else...hope you enjoyed. Drop me a review to let me know what you think...happy reading.**


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